How a license plate reader helped catch a Dallas murder suspect

Dallas police say technology, including an automatic license plate reader, helped them find and charge a man in connection with the slaying of a 39-year-old woman.

Officers discovered the body of Tunesia Lyons on Aug. 5 at the bottom of a hill at Interstate 45 and Simpson Stuart Road. She had been shot in the face.

Family members told police that Lyons had been associating with a man known to them by the nickname “Black.”

Detectives obtained Lyons’ phone records, which led them to another woman who said she had been with Lyons and the man the night of Aug. 4. She picked out Floyd Murray, 41, from a six-photo lineup, police said in an arrest warrant affidavit.

Murray had served 15 years in prison for fatally shooting Bertram Pendergast in Dallas in 1987.

Police found a license plate number connected with Murray.

Two officers driving in a squad car equipped with an automatic license plate reader got an alert early Aug. 18 that they were driving near a murder suspect. They pulled Murray over, took him in for questioning and impounded his 2013 Hyundai Elantra.

Murray admitted he was with Lyons the night before she had been found dead, but he denied that he killed her, according to police documents.

But a detective searched Murray’s car. Police said there were traces of blood on the passenger seat, passenger floorboard and steering wheel.

Murray has been charged with murder. His case is expected to go to trial next year.

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